Antopia: Explore a World of Secret Senses

Museums Victoria’s Experience Development and Design teams led a professional, iterative process to explore and refine the theme of ants, collaborating closely with in-house scientists and curators to ground the experience in contemporary entomology.

The spatial design process began with research into the diverse nest-building behaviours of ant species, from nomadic trails to woven tree nests and subterranean chambers. This inspired the layout of eight immersive zones, each with distinct spatial qualities: Introduction, Pheromone Wash, Central Hub, Queen’s Chamber, Nursery, Pantry, Outside, and Zoom Out. These environments offer a range of embodied learning experiences, designed to highlight the intelligence and interdependence of ant colonies as superorganisms.

The communication design team faced the challenge of interpreting pheromone communication—an invisible, scent-based language—into an accessible, multisensory format. Through innovative use of motion-tracking and responsive projection, they developed a vibrant visual system of colour trails that respond to visitor movement. This transformed a complex biological process into a participatory and intuitive game mechanic, supporting exploration, understanding, and emotional connection.

This key mechanism, visually rendering unseen ant behaviours, fulfilled the exhibition’s aim to foster new perspectives through embodied learning, while delivering on the broader mission to inspire environmental care.

The project exceeded its brief through the integration of science, storytelling, spatial immersion and interactivity. Executed to a high professional standard under tight time constraints, the exhibition presents a bold model for translating complex science into joyful, inclusive public experiences.

The final experience was realised through deep interdisciplinary collaboration, led by Museums Victoria’s Experience, Spatial and Communication Design teams. A diverse group of specialists—including fabricators, electricians, programmers, game developers, multimedia technicians, network engineers, riggers, sound and lighting designers, screen manufacturers and projectionists—worked together to deliver a blockbuster exhibition of outstanding technical and creative quality.

Antopia offers a highly resolved, user-centred experience. Visitors move freely through a labyrinthine ant nest, constructed from immersive projection, tactile elements, soundscapes and sculptural forms. The non-linear structure empowers audiences to forge their own path through interconnected zones, each reinforcing core ideas around systems, communication, teamwork and life cycles.

Thematically and visually, the experience is cohesive and transportive. Seamless integration of large-scale digital animation with physical textures and interactive components allows visitors to experience life from an ant’s perspective—supported by a strong aesthetic language and intuitive navigation.

Accessible design principles are embedded throughout, including multiple forms of interpretation, spatial clarity, and varied sensory engagement. Physical play elements, including large-scale puzzle pieces and tactile sound zones, support kinesthetic learning and accessibility for a broad range of users.

Antopia was built with sustainability in mind—modular infrastructure, low-waste scenic materials, and future touring potential ensure the project’s longevity and minimal environmental footprint.

Antopia sets a new benchmark for immersive experience design in Victoria—merging scientific insight with bold creativity and innovative communication design. It demonstrates the transformative potential of professional design to deliver inclusive, joyful, and meaningful public engagement.

Antopia addressed a clear design challenge: how to create a rich, interpretive experience with minimal on-floor exhibition text. Audience research from the first Immersive Digital Experience revealed a preference for intuitive, embodied engagement over text-heavy interpretation. The goal was to convey complex scientific content—such as ant communication systems and colony behaviour—through interactive, sensory means that would be accessible to a wide range of visitors.

This led to a communication design strategy that embedded interpretation into action, space, and sound. Key concepts were expressed through invitation-based cues, colour, movement, and responsive environmental effects, allowing visitors to feel their way into understanding.

Technological integration was both imaginative and groundbreaking. Large-scale wall and floor projections responded in real time to visitor movement, synced with a bespoke soundscape to create a living, reactive environment. This sensory feedback loop simulated the ants’ pheromone-based world—offering a deeply immersive and novel way to experience biological processes.

Innovative features included:

Layered Gaming Mechanics: Visitors unwittingly become part of a game-like system that teaches through exploration rather than instruction.

Dynamic Playback: Real-time content rendering enables seamless interaction with virtually no perceptible latency.

Operational Simplicity: Despite the complexity behind the scenes, the system was designed to run reliably and efficiently with minimal daily setup—crucial for public venues.

Antopia is user-centred at its core. By translating invisible natural systems into intuitive, multisensory encounters, it not only solves a legitimate problem in science communication—it creates a new, emotionally resonant way for visitors to connect with the environment and each other.

Antopia’s lush, sensorially rich and dynamically responsive environment invites visitors to step into the intricate social world of an ant colony—revealing systems of communication, cooperation, and survival that mirror and challenge human behaviours. Designed with the user at its core, Antopia fosters a meaningful connection between visitors, each other, and the natural world.

Audience research confirms that the experience encourages empathy toward often-overlooked species, with 35% of visitors reporting they had “no idea ants were so amazing” and only 18% still considering ants “a pain in my kitchen.” Through play and exploration, visitors discover an unseen layer of the environment, exemplified in ant pheromone communication expressed through interactive, responsive light and colour.

Antopia contributes to the circular economy through the use of modular, durable components, designed for longevity, reusability and efficient storage and transport. Physical structures and interactives minimise single-use materials, while the heavy-lifting of immersion is carried by technology—enabling high impact with a low physical footprint.

From a social and cultural perspective, the project models the power of a collaborative, interdisciplinary design process and celebrates Victoria’s creative sector. Antopia strengthens Museums Victoria’s reputation as a design-forward institution and positions the state as a global leader in immersive exhibition design.

With touring plans underway—first nationally, then internationally—Antopia will continue to share its sustainable, inspiring approach with broader audiences. This is an exhibition that changes perceptions: of insects, of ecosystems, and of the role of design in communicating science and empathy at scale.